From Powerline:
So Kerry's military experience was better than McCain's because after serving for four months in Vietnam, he returned to the U.S. and falsely accused his fellow servicemen of being war criminals. I think it's time for Wesley Clark to be ushered quietly off the stage.
Well, he was certainly quietly ushered out of Europe.
But it would appear that the man has neither brains nor shame.
I should add that I don't think that what he said on Face the Nation was reprehensible. I didn't hear it as denigrating McCain's service so much as simply pointing out that it didn't necessarily give him the experience needed to be president, which is a reasonable position. It would be even more reasonable if it weren't a straw man, since as far as I know no one, including McCain himself has ever claimed that it did.
But it was a stupid thing to say, considering the experience level of his own candidate.
[Afternoon update]
Heh.
Obama wants to get us out of Iraq, but he can't even get us out of Vietnam.
I think that what's happening is a result of the Democrats delusions about "swift boating." They think that John Kerry lost because people denigrated his military record, so they're hoping that they can neutralize McCain the same way.
And it might work if there were any parallels to the situation other than that both spent time in Vietnam during the war.
But unfortunately for the donkeys, McCain didn't:
- Serve the shortest tour of duty on record by getting three minor injuries, none of which resulted in any hospitalization or time off duty
- Tell tall tales about being in Cambodia at Christmas time in 1968, with Nixon as president
- Have numerous fellow prisoners come forward and say that his stories were nonsense
- Have those same prisoners contribute to a book documenting that what McCain said was nonsense
- Come back and testify before Congress, on hearsay evidence from suspect sources, that his fellow servicemen were wanton, vicious war criminals
- Keep his service records hidden while pretending that he hadn't
- Make his service the prime justification for his candidacy
But other than all that, all of this denigration of his service just might work.
There's a lot more over at Instapundit.
I think it's unproductive to smear anyone's service record, wether it's erry,mccain, clark webb or Bush
I think it's unproductive to smear anyone's service record, wether it's erry,mccain, clark webb or Bush
It was clearly useful in the case of Kerry. But in that case, it wasn't "smearing" it. It was simply telling the truth. And is falsely testifying against your fellow servicemen in the Senate part of a "service record"?
I only hope things keep up they way they are with Obama changing his positions and his supporters acting as obnoxious brats.
I might have missed something here. Is Kerry one of the candidates now?
Rise up and serve your country Shimberg. Time for you to finally serve. Afghanistan beckons. Abandon you stinky keyboard for a rifle; one you can still learn to shoot.